Rising export demand boosted Germany’s key mechanical engineering sector in November, the VDMA industry federation says.

The manufacture of machine tools is an important part of Germany’s industrial and export performance.

Overall incoming orders were up by 7.0 per cent in November compared with the level in same month in 2012, VDMA said in a statement on Monday, adding that export orders had jumped by 12 per cent while domestic orders were down 1.0 per cent.

However, taking a three-month comparison to iron out short-term fluctuations, overall orders were down by 3.0 per cent in the period from September to November. Foreign orders fell 7.0 per cent, while domestic orders rose by 5.0 per cent, VDMA calculated.